


Before You There Was Him

by QueenoftheHobbits



Series: Soft Thighs Series [46]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, mentions an abusive ex, overweight reader, plus size reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 12:19:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8102185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenoftheHobbits/pseuds/QueenoftheHobbits
Summary: You run into the last person you ever wanted to see again at one of Tony’s parties.





	

Before Bucky there had been _him_ , the man who broke you down each day and kept you on the floor, never let you build yourself back up. The man who in one sentence would call you his princess and then turn around and call you disgusting. The man who made you believe no one else would love you, that he loved you. But he didn’t. The man who made you stare at your body with disgust, who made you feel like you needed to take dieting pills and work your body to the bone only to become ill rather than lose weight. The man who never laid a hand on you but said things that had a similar effect, emotional bruises and scars that stayed with you past his leaving and only began to heal when Bucky found you. 

Bucky who helped you and you who helped him, him with his own traumas and troubles and you with yours and you’d sit and you’d talk and you’d convince the other that what those people had told them were all lies. Bucky who helped you to grow and you who did the same. Bucky who made you smile again, Bucky who helped you get a new job with Stark as a scientist. Bucky who was nothing but kind, who curled around you at night and made you breakfast in the morning so he could feel normal. Bucky with the silver arm and Bucky with the blue eyes. Bucky who never hurt you, never raised his voice, never raised a hand, never spat out horrible words no matter how angry he was, no matter how bad your fight was. He never did. 

Your relationship with Bucky was a galaxy or two away from what your relationship with your ex was like and you’d finally started to feel great about yourself, safe and secure when you decided to concede to Tony’s demands that you and Bucky turn up to one of his many parties. Bucky because Tony liked making the other Avengers show up to show off and you because apparently you worked too hard and needed to let loose. Which was probably a very true statement since you spent up to 12 hours or more a day in the lab doing whatever needed to be done. 

In fact you’d been having a downright wonderful time for once, talking with the others, letting Bucky drag you into a dance on more than one occasion, when you thought you saw _him_ out of the corner of your eye. And then you knew you saw _him_. Even that quick glance had the same reaction he used to in still in you. Your spine tensed up straight, anxiety and fear welled in your chest, and everything seemed instantly less enjoyable and more and more scary. “Are you okay?” You’d been in Bucky’s arms at the time, he’d noticed you tense right away, noticed you staring over his shoulder at something with a look he knew as fear. Bucky knew about your ex, of course he did. You’d told him, you’d wanted him to know and he always knew how to correct what wrong doings _he’d_ done. 

“Yeah...” Your eyes were still following _him_ and despite whatever you said Bucky knew that you were not okay and something had spooked you. He wasn’t an idiot and he wasn’t stupid. He turned the two of you around, facing where you’d been before and he saw it. Saw _him_ , leaning against the bar like he belonged there, like he hadn’t been the man who’d abused his girlfriend and told her that the weight on her hips and stomach was wrong. It made Bucky’s blood boil for the first time in a long time. The normal apathy he felt was just anger. 

Bucky took your shoulders in his hands, “Stay here. I’m going to deal with it.” You didn’t though, you followed behind him, hands clutching at his metal arm like a child as he stalked forward. Because Bucky did stalk like a big cat hunting down some form of prey and you were sure to anyone who’d seen Bucky fight it would be downright terrifying. 

You weren’t sure if you were trying to stop him or if you just didn’t want to be alone, all you knew was that Tony never would have invited _him_ because Tony knew and he shouldn’t have been there which meant he was there because you were there...he was there to hurt you again and you didn’t want to leave Bucky’s side. Because Bucky said he’d always do his best to protect you and you trusted him. 

“Leave.” You stood behind Bucky, only enough to peek around his broad frame, enough to feel safe despite the proximity to _him_. He looked the same, the dark glint in his eye, the sneer, the cocky attitude that was harmful rather than attractive and fun. It made your chest tighten.

“Hey, Buddy, i’m just here having a friendly drink.” He swallowed the rest of whatever was in his glass and the fake friendly smile wasn’t fooling anyone. The people around had started to notice, you could see Steve and Tony making their way over, could see Nat frowning nearby...they might not know the whole story but they knew this guy wasn’t welcome and they knew something was wrong. 

“You’re not allowed to be here. You’re not supposed to be here. Leave. And don’t call me your buddy.” 

“So this is who you moved onto, huh, princess? The only guy who’d actually fucking take your fat ass?” Bucky quickly grabbed _his_ collar, fist enclosed around fabric and it looked like might just punch him, but he didn’t. You weren’t sure what you wanted other than for _him_ to be gone. You just wanted your ex gone, you wanted to never see or hear from him again, you wanted to never hear him say those things to you. 

“Don’t. Fucking. Talk. To. Her.” Each word was punctuated by _him_ being slammed lightly back into the wood of the bar. Not to hurt, but to warn because Bucky couldn’t hurt this man in front of you. He couldn't let you see that so he settled for what he could get and did his best to control the rising anger and the feeling that this guy deserved to be hurt. 

Tony stepped forward, a hand pushing Bucky back gently. 

“Hey, Frosty, put him down, i’ll escort him out, okay? You’ve got more important things to deal with.” Tony’s eyes shifted to you, you were shaking, arms wrapped around your plump stomach and eyes looking at the ground. Tony could deal with your ex, but only Bucky could handle you and how you felt. Bucky glanced over at you, taking in your obvious distress and let the guy go, “You come around here again and I will kill you.” before turning towards you and blocking your view of _him_.

The party was silent, music since turned off and everyone staring, but Bucky simply ushered you out with a hand on your back and guided you back towards your own room. Your own sanctuary. The warmth on your back was reassuring as was the distance that was being put between you and _him_. You felt your room was safe, safe from that man, safe from anyone who wanted to hurt you. It was just you and Bucky and no one was going to hurt you. 

“Hey, look at me.” You lifted your eyes to meet Bucky’s, “He is a liar and a disgusting creep, okay? Nothing he said had any bearing, I love you and so many other people do too...I love you, okay?” You laid back on the bed and pulled him down, curling into his side. You believed him, you knew he was right...but you were shaken, it was like seeing a ghost, a horrible, terrible ghost...and you just needed Bucky to stay close right now, you just needed to know you were safe from _him_. Safe from everything he ever said. Safe from everything he’d ever done. 


End file.
